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In Sports from United Press International

By United Press International

SAN FRANCISCO, Oct. 6 (UPI) -- With Major League Baseball heading to the playoffs in record-setting fashion, Barry Bonds broke his sport's most glamorous record of all Friday night.

Having equaled Mark McGwire's single-season home-run mark with his 70th Thursday night in Houston, Bonds hit Nos. 71 and 72 in his first two at bats Friday evening. The culmination of his year-long assault, however, was not enough to keep Bonds' San Francisco Giants in the playoff hunt.

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Despite the homers from Bonds and the celebration that went with them, San Francisco fell to the Los Angeles Dodgers, 11-10. The Giants rallied from a 5-0 deficit to tie it at 10-10, but eventually lost in a game that took more than 4 1/2 hours to play. That eliminated the Giants and left the Atlanta Braves, Houston Astros, St. Louis Cardinals and Arizona Diamondbacks as this year's playoff teams from the National League.

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Atlanta clinched the NL East title Friday night with a 20-3 hammering of the Florida Marlins. Arizona won the NL West crown thanks to a 5-0 win over Milwaukee combined with San Francisco's loss.

Houston, meanwhile, rallied for a 2-1 win over St. Louis that left those teams tied for the lead in the Central Division with two games remaining. Houston and St. Louis will now battle to determine which of them will win the division title and which will be the league's wild card representative. Because they lead the season series, the Astros need to win just one of the final two games with the Cardinals to capture the division crown.

Other National League results: Pittsburgh 3, Chicago 2; Montreal 8, New York 6; Colorado 4, San Diego 0. Philadelphia's game at Cincinnati was rained out.


Mariners set AL record for wins

SEATTLE, Oct. 6 (UPI) -- The Seattle Mariners eclipsed the 1998 New York Yankees' American League record for wins in a season Friday night with a 6-2 triumph over the Texas Rangers.

Jamie Moyer became the oldest pitcher ever to record 20 wins for the first time, Mark McLemore tripled twice and scored three times and Bret Boone drove in three runs as the Mariners recorded their 115th victory.

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Seattle's 115 victories are just one shy of the 1906 Chicago Cubs, who went 116-36. Seattle has two games remaining against Texas, which has the worst record in the American League West.

Moyer (20-6) allowed two runs and four hits in seven innings. He did not walk a batter and struck out three. Moyer had never won more than 17 games before this season and became just the 10th 38-year-old to win 20 games or more with the previous nine all doing it earlier in their career.

McLemore, who has served as an essential utility player for Seattle, became the first Mariner since Joey Cora on June 28, 1996 to riple twice in a game.

Boone added to his career year with his 36th homer and pushed his RBI total to 140.

Other American League results: Tampa Bay 8, New York 4; Chicago 7, Minnesota 4; Oakland 6, Anaheim 2. Boston swept Baltimore, 5-0 and 7-5 in 10 innings; and Toronto took two from Cleveland, 5-0 and 4-3 in 11 innings. The Kansas City-Detroit game was rained out.


Texas seeks revenge against Oklahoma

DALLAS, Oct. 6 (UPI) -- Texas and Oklahoma will renew their Red River rivalry today in the highlight attraction of the college football weekend.

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The fifth-ranked Longhorns and third-rated Sooners will stage their annual meeting at the Cotton Bowl and for the first time since 1984, both will come into the game unbeaten.

Oklahoma, the defending national champion, has a 17-game winning streak working. Texas is still smarting from their 63-14 defeat at the hands of the Sooners last year. Texas is a three-point favorite.

Longhorn hopes are tied largely to quarterback Chris Simms, a junior in his first season as the permanent starter. Son of former New York Giants quarterback Phil Simms, the Texas quarterback is getting his share of Heisman hype.

In the only other game between ranked teams today, No. 2 Florida (4-0) takes on No. 20 LSU (2-1) at Baton Rouge with Gator quarterback Rex Grossman trying for his fifth straight 300-yard passing game.

Florida's high-powered offense has been unstoppable, surpassing 500 yards in all four games. The Gators collected 640 yards last week in a win over Mississippi State, its highest total ever in an Southeastern Conference contest.

Saturday's schedule also will see Joe Paterno of Penn State make another attempt at tying Bear Bryant's all-time record for wins and No. 16 Northwestern try to end decades of frustration against Ohio State.

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Penn State hopes to avoid the first 0-4 start in the program's storied history on when its hosts 15th-ranked Michigan (3-1). Paterno entered the season needing only one win to match Bryant's Division I-A mark of 323 coaching victories.

Northwestern hopes to snap a 21-game drought against Ohio State in the first Big 10 Conference night game in the 79-year history of Ohio Stadium.

Top-ranked Miami (3-0) will prepare for next week's meeting with Florida State by hosting Troy State. The Hurricanes have a 12-game winning streak, the second-longest current streak behind Oklahoma. No. 14 Florida State (3-1) is off this week.

The third-longest streak in the nation belongs to No. 10 Washington (3-0), which takes an 11-game run into a Pac-10 Conference date with Southern California.

Arizona has lost six straight Pac-10 games entering its game with No. 8 Oregon (4-0). No. 6 Virginia Tech (4-0) will visit West Virginia and No. 7 Tennessee (3-0) welcomes Georgia.

No. 12 South Carolina (4-0), which escaped with a one-point win over Alabama last week, will host Kentucky and No. 13 Kansas State tries to avoid back-to-back losses for the first time since 1998 when it entertains Colorado. Kansas State was a one-point loser at Oklahoma last week.

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In other games today, No. 17 Georgia Tech (3-1) visits Duke, No. 18 Purdue (3-0) hosts Iowa, No. 22 Texas A&M (4-0) welcomes Baylor, No. 23 Toledo (4-0) is at Ohio and No. 25 Maryland (4-0) hosts Virginia.

Action involving top 25 teams began Friday night when No. 18 BYU rallied from a halftime deficit to defeat Utah State, 54-34.


Stars open new arena with victory

DALLAS, Oct. 6 (UPI) -- Ed Belfour continued his mastery of the Nashville Predators and Brenden Morrow scored twice Friday night as the Dallas Stars opened American Airlines Center with a 4-1 victory.

Belfour made 18 saves and improved to 7


0 all-time against the Predators as the Stars played the first regular-season game in their new arena in front of 18,532 fans.

Cliff Ronning gave Nashville the lead 7:12 into the game when he skated from behind the net to the top of the crease, from where he lifted a backhander over Belfour's shoulder.

Dallas had a power play when Sergei Zubov tied the game, 1-1, with 7:58 left in the opening period. Zubov ripped a slap shot from the right point past goaltender Mike Dunham, who was screened by Dallas right winger Pat Verbeek.

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The Stars took the lead 57 seconds into the second period when Joe Nieuwendyk took a pass from Jere Lehtinen and beat Dunham to the glove side for his first goal.

Other NHL results: Carolina 3, New York Rangers 1; New York Islanders 3, Tampa Bay 2.


Three-way tie at Michelob Championship

WILLIAMSBURG, Va., Oct. 6 (UPI) -- Unheralded Chris Riley had a pair of eagles in a 4-under-par 67 Friday to grab a share of the lead with Jonathan Kaye and Len Mattiace after the second round of the Michelob Championship.

After firing a 66 Thursday, he eagled the par-5 third and 15th holes Friday to finish 36 holes at 9-under 133. He also eagled the par-5 seventh hole Thursday.

Kaye, who shot a 67 that was bogey free, eagled the par-4 first in the opening round. Mattiace, one of the last players to finish his round Friday, fired a 66.

None of the co-leaders has won on the PGA Tour. Riley has had the best showing, finishing second at The International in August.

Defending champion David Toms was tied for fourth place at 8-under 134. The Ryder Cup team member managed a 70 that put him into a tie with Neal Lancaster (69) and Carl Paulson (66).

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Six players are at 135, including young gun Charles Howell III, who fired a 65.


IRL qualifying wiped out by cold weather

FORT WORTH, Texas, Oct. 6 (UPI) -- Unusually cold and windy conditions after a Texas-sized rainstorm brought a halt to Indy Racing League practice Friday and wiped out qualifying for Saturday's Chevy 500.

This race originally was scheduled for Sept. 15 but was postponed following the terrorist attacks four days earlier. Friday's practice session was rained out and IRL officials decided to give the teams a practice session once the track dried.

However, conditions were so cold and windy that the IRL would not allow the cars to run laps over 175 miles per hour. When it became apparent that conditions would not improve, the practice was canceled and today's lineup was be determined by the points standings.

That means 2001 champion Sam Hornish Jr. will start on the pole alongside 2000 champion Buddy Lazier, who is second in points. Scott Sharp, Billy Boat and Eliseo Salazar round out the top five in the 25-car starting lineup.


Three inducted into basketball Hall of Fame

SPRINGFIELD, Mass., Oct. 6 (UPI) -- Moses Malone, one of the NBA's 50 Greatest Players, and legendary college coaches Mike Krzyzewski and John Chaney were enshrined into the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame Friday.

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The three were elected to the Hall of Fame on May 30 and were enshrined in ceremonies at the Springfield Civic Center -- the birthplace of basketball.

Malone and Krzyzewski were elected on their first ballot by the honors committee. This was Chaney's third year being reviewed by the North American screening committee and his first by the honors committee.

"I've been thinking about these two coaches," joked Malone, who never played college basketball. "If I would have played for you all, you would have been in six years earlier."

"I wanted to make one announcement -- we're putting in for an NCAA rule change as far as the age limit," Krzyzewski said. "Moses is going to come to Duke with four years of eligibility. I think it would be discriminatory not to allow this man to do what he wants to do."

A candidate needed five of seven votes from his screening committee to become a Hall of Fame finalist and 18 of 24 votes from the honors committee for election.

A three-time NBA Most Valuable Player and 12-time All-Star center, Malone ranks fifth all-time with 27,409 points and 16,212 rebounds. He teamed with Hall of Famer Julius Erving to lead the Philadelphia 76ers to the 1983 NBA championship.

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Umpires named for Division Series

NEW YORK, Oct. 6 (UPI) -- Bruce Froemming, who is umpiring his 31st season, will be among those who will work during the American and National League Division Series, Major League Baseball announced Friday.

In the National League, Froemming, Chuck Meriweather, Mike Winters, Brian Gorman, Jim Joyce and Mike Everitt will work the first two games of the series featuring the non-wild card teams and the final three games of the series featuring the wild card.

Froemming will work his sixth division series and third in the last four years.

The other NL crew will consist of 20-year veteran Randy Marsh, John Hirschbeck, Larry Young, Tim Tschida, Dale Scott and Alfonso Marquez.

In the American League, Steve Rippley, Ted Barrett, Kerwin Danley, Jerry Layne, Mark Hirschbeck and Ron Kulpa will work the opening two games as well as Game 5 in the New York-Oakland series as well as Games 3 and 4 of the Cleveland-Seattle series.

Dana DeMuth, Jeff Nelson, Paul Schreiber, Rick Reed, Ed Rapuano and Greg Gibson will work Games 3 and 4 of the New York-Oakland series and the other three games of the Cleveland-Seattle set.

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Beuerlein out for the season

ENGLEWOOD, Colo., Oct. 6 (UPI) -- Elbow problems have shelved veteran quarterback Steve Beuerlein for the entire 2001 season.

The Denver Broncos Friday placed Beuerlein on injured reserve, ending his year.

The Broncos surprisingly signed Beuerlein in the offseason as insurance since starter Brian Griese was coming off shoulder surgery, although backup Gus Frerotte had already re-signed with the team. But Beuerlein has been slow to heal from an offseason elbow injury and did not even play in the preseason.

That insurance policy was not needed since Griese has shown no ill effects from the surgery and was named AFC Offensive Player of the Month.

The 36-year-old Beuerlein was the Carolina Panthers' starter last season and threw for 3,730 yards and 19 touchdowns with 18 interceptions.


World Cup qualifying nears end

LONDON, Oct. 5 (UPI) -- Qualifying for the 2002 World Cup will reach a peak in Europe today and also will near a conclusion in both North and South America with Russia, Italy, England, Denmark, Paraguay and even the United States hoping to claim a spot in soccer's biggest event by the end of the day.

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With the draw for next year's competition to take place in less than two months, 19 spots in the 32-nation field remain undecided. At least 10 and possibly 11 of those remaining berths will go to European countries and six of them will be determined Saturday.

The United States, meanwhile, could be pushed to the brink of elimination Saturday in its bid for a fourth straight spot in the World Cup field. But a victory over Jamaica in Boston would keep the Americans very much alive and might even clinch a World Cup spot.

A win by the United States, combined with what would be unlikely losses by both Mexico and Honduras, would wrap up a trip to the event that will be co-hosted by Japan and South Korea.

A final round of games will be played in the North American-Caribbean region in November with the United States traveling to Trinidad & Tobago for the finale. Wins in their last two games would be enough to put the Americans in the World Cup.

Three more games remain in South America's qualifying tournament and Paraguay is the only country that can clinch a spot this weekend. Argentina has already claimed one of the minimum of four positions available.

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Most of the attention in South America will be on Brazil, which has struggled to keep alive its streak of having never missed a World Cup.

Brazil is tied for fourth with Colombia and will host Chile on Sunday. The Brazilians are heavy favorites, but a loss in that game could spell big trouble for the traditional powerhouse.

In Europe, six of the nine group titles will be determined. Spain, Poland and Sweden have already wrapped up spots from Europe along with defending champion France. The eventual second-place finishers in each group will take part in a series of playoffs to decide the remaining European qualifiers.

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